"Who is The Copycat: The Best-selling Author or The Rising Author?"
"A Rising Author Turns Out To Be A Theft."
"Kay Hammond Dares To Challenge Lilian Barnett!"
"Scandalous! Obsessive Niece Disapproved of Her Future Aunt."
The more Kyra scrolled down the news, the more ridiculous the headlines were. Those paparazzi were completely out of their mind. They grabbed at every opportunity to twist any information to their own benefit and the more attention their article received, the more excited they were at sharing it. They didn't care if anyone would be victimised from their falsity.
Even a few influencers began to make their move, joining the hype to gain attention. Kyra didn't have to check her social media to know that she was being harassed because the notification in her phone rang from minutes to seconds now.
Valeria as her editor was already on a call with her. "This is so f*cked up! I know you didn't do it. You published the book first and I was there at every step of the process. We discussed the idea together and now they're saying that you only published first so you can sue Lila for plagiarising. What kind of ridiculous accusation is this?!"
Valeria laughed in disbelief at how creative these people were at plotting their own stories. "They should be a writer instead. How their brain works is fucking ingenious. They even turned you into a crazy niece."
Kyra remained silent. Her expression was empty as her eyes continued to trail down the news. Not even one of them was on her side. Not even one of them believed she was capable of writing such a good story. Nobody…
Well, there used to be one. James used to be the one who believed in her ability the most. This kind of accident happened once when she had just started her writing career. Someone accused her of the same thing, but at that time, the other party was in the same spot as her now.
Kyra remembered vividly how James defended her fiercely and caused the downfall of that author. With his power, the author disappeared from the writing world.
But, how the table had turned now.
When Kyra first knew about this scandal, James' cold expression from that night became clear in her head. Perhaps she didn't notice it before but now, it was the only thing in her head.
So, she knew immediately that this was James' move. He was going to erase her name just like how he had erased that author.
He was going to kill her.
Kyra broke down onto her desk in laughter. Valeria was shocked by the loud and sudden laughter from her phone. All of the sudden, Valeria became nervous. This was not a laughing matter yet Kyra was chortling away.
"K-Kyra…" She carefully probed from the other side.
"Yes?" Kyra stopped and asked whilst grinning.
"A-Are you okay?"
Kyra chuckled. "Absolutely. Don't worry about this. I will make sure you stay in your job."
"That's not important," Valeria interjected in disbelief. "I'm genuinely concerned about you. I know what writing means to you and how much you struggle to get to this point."
"I understand," Kyra's voice remained indifferent. There was not a hint of worry or anxiety. "But, aren't the higher ups panicking about this?"
Valeria unwillingly explained, "Yes, the higher-ups are urgently inquiring about this matter because your book generated the most income for this month's release and continues to increase. But…"
"You're a good friend, Val."
Valeria was dumbfounded by the sudden compliment. For some reason, she was completely nervous now. She could sense that something was wrong with her best friend. It was like something had snapped, yet she couldn't figure out what Kyra was thinking.
"Hey, can I visit you now? Maybe we can have some fried chicken and beers. Let's cool down for a second."
"No." Kyra straightforwardly rejected her.
Valeria panicked. "Why not?"
"I have something to do."
With that, Kyra hung up and went downstairs. However, she stopped halfway when she saw the maids tidying up the dining room. She knew what it meant.
"Is James coming home?" She asked as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
Everyone immediately stopped whatever they were doing and stared at their young mistress dumbfoundedly, especially Roman. Surely, they heard her wrong but did the young mistress just address the master without any courtesy?
"I'm asking if James is coming home."
Kyra repeated her words and even stressed James' name to confirm the staffs' doubt. At this point, she didn't give two f*cks about etiquette. She would show respect only to people who deserved it.
"M-Miss…" Mr. Roman was going to correct her but Kyra raised one hand to stop the old man.
"Is he?" Kyra interjected.
Her gaze was firm without a hint of warmth. It was completely the opposite of the innocent and cheerful girl Kyra had always been. The current her felt intimidating and overwhelmingly oppressive as if they were beneath her, as if she was asserting their position as employees and she the employer.
Mr. Roman could somewhat understand the situation. As a competent butler who had been working for the Synder's family since the previous head was still alive, he was always on his toes with keeping track of what's going on both inside and outside of the estate.
Putting two and two together, he could somewhat guess what was happening.
"Yes, Miss."
At first, everyone was confused but Roman urged the others to quickly finish their work. So, as they busied themselves, Kyra sat down quietly in the living room with her eyes closed. Nobody knew what she was thinking.
Minutes turned to hours and it had been two hours after the staff had finished serving the food when James' car finally skidded to a stop in front of the manor.
Kyra slowly opened her eyes and looked at the clock. It was 11 p.m.
James was a bit drunk from his meeting with a client right after he arrived in the country from accompanying Lila to Italy. So, although he knew what would happen when he got home, he was still caught off-guard with the girl's figure sitting quietly on the couch.
She was staring at him with no expression on her face. James immediately sobered up. He glanced at her coldly while tossing the key onto the side table near the entrance.